A mother and huntress receive fiery criticisms after taking her 4-year-old daughter on hunting trips.
Jesica Murphy, 23, from Raglan, New Zealand, manages the Instagram page “Hunting with Jess” where she documents her life shooting down wild animals including boar, tahr, deer, pests like possums, and rabbits.
She started hunting at just four years old and asked her stepdad Brendan, 40, to take her to his weekly hunts. Soon after she began to hunt with the family, including her grandfather Ray Crake, 70.
Two decades later, the stay-at-home mom says she plans to get her daughter, Lyla, into hunting in years to come and she has been getting her daughter slowly into the activity.
Jesica wants to teach Lyla where her meat comes from and how to respect wildlife as a food source.
She says she tries to explain the benefits of her eating habits and lifestyle, from ingesting only free-range meat in comparison to the mass-produced caged meat that most of us commonly purchase from supermarkets.
Jesica has also started teaching other children how to hunt who might not normally have access to such outdoor activities. She hopes to educate others on the benefits of organic meat whilst teaching them how to respect nature.
She reveals that she begins her hunts just before daybreak accompanied by her dogs which she uses to track and catch her prey and then she will arrive to finish off the hunt.
If the hunt is successful, Jesica will transport the meat to a chiller to set for a few days. Then, the animal is skinned and cut up and the resulting meat is used to feed the family.
If she has extra, she donates it to those in need as the meat is both organic and free-range.
Although some have admired her for being a role model to the younger generations, others have criticized her and called her names.
“People have said how much it inspires them to see my pictures out hunting, how awesome it is to see a female hunter so passionate, and how great of a role model I am not only to my daughter but to the younger generations,” she said.
“I have also received numerous death threats telling me to kill myself in as many different ways as they can or telling me I’m a murderer and things like “you should bathe in your own mother’s blood and see if that makes you sick.”
“I received hundreds and hundreds of hateful comments and messages about my daughter, telling me she’s going to be a murderer or an assassin when she’s older and that I’ve messed her up for life and this is not how to raise a child.”
“It’s bizarre the way people think they can judge and talk to others in this way just because of our lifestyle and because we choose to source our free-range meat organically instead of eating meat from an animal that’s been caged its entire life and is pumped full of hormones and other chemicals to make it grow faster and abnormally.”
“I found the best way to respond was by not responding at all. I was taught this way of life and couldn’t be more thankful for it, no hateful comments are going to change that.”
But Jesica says she chooses not to listen to the trolls and instead hopes to educate other children on the benefits of organic meat and respecting nature.
She says being surrounded by nature allows her to reset mentally and reduces her stress.
“Most mornings begin early in the morning just as daybreaks. It’s always cold, but the air is so fresh. Once we get to where we’re hunting, we put tracking gear on the dogs and search for signs of the pigs.”
“I love the feeling the bush gives me. Every time I head into the hills with my dogs, it resets all my worries, stress, and brain fog lifts. We don’t do it just to kill animals, we do it to feed families, exercise, and also reset ourselves.”
When she first started hunting with Lyla, Jesica used to carry her around in a pack through the bush.
“Pig hunting isn’t her favorite thing to do at the moment because the amount of walking required is a little too much for her little legs.”
“She absolutely loves to go out shooting. I love that we get to teach and show her where the meat that we have for dinner really comes from. Knowing that when she grows, she’ll know how to respectfully use our wildlife as a food source to feed herself and others around her is a very proud feeling.”
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